2013 Korean Grand Prix

Jules Bianchi and Charles Pic will have ten-place grid penalties for the Japanese Grand Prix after collecting their third reprimands of the season.

Both were reprimanded for failing to slow sufficiently when yellow flags were shown during the Korean Grand Prix.

For both, it was their second reprimand of the weekend and their third in total following other infractions earlier this year. They will therefore receive ten-place grid penalties for the next race a Suzuka.

Their team mates Max Chilton and Giedo van der Garde also picked up reprimands after the stewards found they failed to slow sufficiently when the Safety Car was first deployed. Van der Garde was separately cleared of going too quickly through a yellow flag area.

The stewards took no action over two incidents involving Sergio Perez, one involving Felipe Massa and another with Paul di Resta, ruling that “no driver was determined to be wholly or predominantly to blame” for either.

Adrian Sutil was also cleared over his collision with Mark Webber. The stewards ruled the Force India driver “did not brake later than the drivers around him”, adding “his brakes locked causing him to lose control”.

The relative performances of each of the drivers and cars is not a factor, regardless of how much it impacts them. For example, let’s say Massa got a penalty, but he mucked up qualifying and would have started 19th-20th, the penalty would still be the same, but it would have far less impact, and it’s pretty much guaranteed no one would even care that the penalty lacked severity in that situation.

@philereid My point is the penalty is pointless is has no point. In this case, relative performances is a factor, the penalty has no impact on these particular drivers, this will not educate them not to do it again.
See@BasCB and many other comments below for further reference

@funkyf1 And my point stated that it doesn’t matter that’s it’s pointless, it’s the penalty that’s given as it’s fair to everyone. As I said, no one would even bat an eyelid if say a normally front-running car qualified 20th for some reason, and then the penalty applied afterwards, dropping them 2 positions.
Also, why should they get a different penalty just because they are further back? And what penalty would they get instead?

madness. Wasn’t a GP3 driver banned for a race because of the first corner Monza crash? I dont see how thats any different to Massa’s loss of control. Grid penalties are surely needed for taking out other cars.

Maybe now they will have to stay in Korea and race from the Yeonham track to the harbor and take the boat to Japan to reflect starting 10 spots back their likely qualifying spots of 21st and 23rd for Suzuka.

Surely Sutil should have got a penalty, especially if Hulkenburg got one last season at Brazil for something similar and far more tricky than what Sutil did. Sutil locked his own brakes… In the dry…causing a collision and gets no penalty? I don’t get it.

Hang on so reprimands for going to quickly under the safety car? Was that whilst they were catching back up to the pack having unlapped themselves? If so, the track would have had to be declared clear for them to do so and therefore, why limit the speed they can catch up!?

I’m not sure if it was while they were catching the pack back up, but that is my main gripe with the “lapped cars can unlap” rule, as I understand it they have to still go at the safety car delta time, which means it takes ages for the lapped guys to catch up. By the time the lapped guys are allowed to unlap themselves they should have a good idea of where the danger is, so they should be able to exercise caution at the relevant part/parts of the circuit, and go quicker round the rest of it.

This lapped cars can overtake the safety car rule sounds nice in theory, but it doesn’t work that we’ll in actuality. It makes safety car periods last longer than they should. Why can’t the lapped cars simply drop back to the rear of the queue when there is enough space to do it (like the Korea straight), and the live timing can promote them up a lap?

Yes, it was for catching up I believe…
So they were supposed to drive slowly to the back of the pack and run more pointless laps behind the safety car while we struggle to keep our eyes open as viewers? Amazing, lets penalize them!

@keithcollantine Well, why not just award another lap to these lapped cars then? Meaning, you still save time on the lapped cars dropping back to where their respective positions are, but just add one lap to their “log” or whatever, then voila, they’re now on the lead lap…

No, it was caused by the lapped drivers driving too quickly whilst unlapping themselves. Chilton and van der Garde managed to do it properly, so there is no reason why Bianchi and Pic should not have been able to do it.